For somebody who grew up listening to rock and roll, rap music or hip hop was like listening too music from out of left field. I'm not sure what defines music as a genre but I tend to define music based on the concept of good or bad. Either it's good and worth listening to or it's not.
So rap or rock and roll really doesn't matter. But since this post is about rap here are some of the original rap songs that I first discovered.
The first rap song I ever heard was Rapper Delight by the Sugar Hill Gang. For some reason it captured the attention of America and sparked the hip hop industry.
Around 1984 Kurtis Blow came to my attention, andI'm not sure what other songs he released, but "Basketball" was one I remember listening to.
In 1986 Run DMC released their Raising Hell album which featured "Walk This Way". The album scored well with both the rock and rap crowd. My favorite, though, from the album was "You be Illin'".
Late in 1986 the Beastie Boys joined the scene with the release of Licensed to Ill. The song that really grabbed peoples attention was "Fight For Your Right", but the one that I enjoyed the most was "Paul Revere".
These four songs are a great representation of the music that was evolving but only a small representation of what was happening. This article of the Top 40 Hip Hop songs of 1986 show that that was much more happening than I was aware of.